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Did You Say Free Hosting?
Free Hosting
Free Hosting is a type of web hosting service in which you receive free web space on your hosts server to create and host your web site for free. The main advantage to Free Hosting is the cost. Nothing! No money. No credit cards needed. Ever!
Wherever you see advantages in anything you must have disadvantages as well. In the case of Free Hosting, limited features, and in some cases but not all, forced ads. Typically these are ads that you have placed on your website in exchange for free service. Not bad huh? Well in doing some research for this article I found so many bannerless free hosting sites that I almost did not include the 'forced ad' factor. Just wanted to note it to let you know you definitely have a choice. More and more Hosting Companies are content to let you use their forums as a way to write content for their site. It makes sense. This is also where you would draw support if you needed it. You may also notice some ads in your cPanel that the Hosting co. would like you to view. Either way you slice it, there are some amazing Free Hosting sites with some really cool add-ons! As always, take your time and choose wisely! Many free website hosts provide a sub-domain or sub-directory of their own domain name as an option to keep you from paying the cost of your own top level domain name. Remember, no matter how big or how small your business, a website can give it that much needed boost.
Look for a Hosting site that will offer you a promise of no ads or banners to clutter your website. Make sure you are also getting completely free web hosting BUT you also get free space up to 10GB and a bandwidth of 150GB to store and access your data and files with ease. Some will provide servers located in different areas around the globe, to ensure 99.9% uptime. All free web hosting offers need to have MySql support along with PHP, webmail and domain add-ons support.
With the free web site builder and a wide array of free templates, you can easily build and host a website absolutely free!
Free PHP Web Hosting
PHP, an open source Web development language, was created by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1995. Originally it meant 'Personal Home Page' but has evolved to mean 'HyperText Preprocessor'. PHP was adapted from Perl and C. As an Open source, PHP is completely free. PHP Hosting uses and fully supports the PHP programming language. It is typically used in the popular LAMP or WAMP structure. It is commonly used in building dynamic websites. If you are knowledgeable with programming languages, PHP should be a breeze. If not, then PHP is a good starting point and there are tutorials everywhere. Just one thing to keep in mind. Some PHP extensions are not compatible with some Web Server software. This can lead to crashes. An example of a platform built with PHP would be the ever popular weblog, WordPress.
Free MySQL Web Hosting
Free Hosting offering free MySQL databases to use on their web server. When combined with PHP or CGI scripts, this type of free hosting is very useful to your new website. For instance you can run web apps on your free website such as phpBB message board or even PHP-Nuke. MySQL is an Open source database known for its speed and reliability. As mentioned with PHP, the popularity of MYSQL makes it easy to find tutorials anywhere. Your free hosting service should provide an already installed phpMyAdmin script. Look for FREE MySQL tools to help you such as forums, galleries, blogs, shopping carts, etc.
Free cPanel Hosting
Tight budgets call for smart solutions. cPanel Hosting is the ideal solution for just such a situation. Ideal because it is so budget friendly. Smart because you get to make use of the best the market has to offer. cPanel is the control panel of choice. It is so easy to use yet seasoned clients enjoy it as well. cPanel is widely known round the world and support is easy to find. Many tutorials are available with instruction on how to use cPanel and its many features. And yes! CPanel is made available to you free so make sure your Host provides it. When opting for a free cPanel Hosting account, make sure that basic features like file manager and domain manager are included. Also see to it that your package includes the following:cPanel; Apache; PHP; Fantastico; Fast Network; Fast Servers; Frontpage Extensions; CGI Access; PERL.
Free File Hosting
File Hosting, as far as hosting goes, is relatively new. Free file hosting is everywhere and is used as a stand-alone devoid of other hosting accounts. They are easy to use and allow you to upload your large files. You simply store them to be used later to send to family or friends or clients and co-workers. Depending on your website and what you are offering will depend on whether you want to have free file hosting or go with a paid account. Still extremely inexpensive, a bigger business may want to use file hosting that offers the ability to give each client his own file space with private access and passwords. Free file hosting services make their money from advertising on the interface.
Free Sub-domain Hosting
A sub-domain is a more specific portion of a domain name, typically located to the left of the domain name in the URL. Ex: ourwebsite.com would be the domain name and webdesign.ourwebsite.com would be the sub-domain. In the event you don't have your own domain name, you can get a subdomain name absolutely free! They are very short and easy to remember and it looks exactly like a real paid domain name. Because they are short and easy to remember, sub-domains are a great choice for your new home. Some search engines will even give sub-domains a slight boost over conventional free hosting addresses. If you have decided to go with a free website host and have no desire to own a domain, sub-domains might be just what you're looking for. You can even find sub-domain hosting that does not place unwanted ads on your cool site. Create Unlimited free sub-domains and point them to your other web sites or where ever you wish.
Free FTP Hosting
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) A process for transferring files over a computer network. Uploading photos or downloading software are just a couple of great examples of things you can do with FTP. If you wish to publish a web site on the internet, FTP hosting is a must. It allows the uploading of web pages directly to your website without having to upload them through a web-based file manager. That can be a slow process as only one file can be transferred at a time. With the array of services offered by free FTP Hosting sites, your only real job is placing good content on your site. A couple of these services include free page counters and guest books. Signing up for free FTP hosting is a simple process. It puts you one step closer to sharing your personal web pages with the rest of the world. For FREE!
Free eCommerce Hosting
eCommerce is the buying and selling of goods, products or services, electronically. Ecommerce has taken the global market by storm. This of course does not come as a shock, considering the Internet is used for just about everything known to man. eCommerce has become the most promising business today. It allows people to create and conduct their business in a way that doesn't involve travel or time restriction. No matter the time of day or your location, you can do business. 24/7/365.
Visitors can enjoy shopping for a product or service, placing an order, making a payment, and delivery of their purchase all with the click of a mouse.
Serious lack of overhead (no building maintenance, rent, electrical billing or water costs) makes ecommerce inexpensive. In many cases, the savings get passed down to you, the consumer. When involving yourself with ecommerce, considerations might include things like online transactions and internet marketing. You will most definitely need the help of a good web hosting company. There are some great eCommerce hosting plans out there. Some even free. You will want to go with a practical yet quality plan.
Note: There are so many free types of hosting that I could have gone on all day long. The above are just a few of the many types of free hosting you can enjoy. Others include green hosting, photo, reseller, email, forum, blog and many many more. There is nothing stopping you from having any kind of website you would like to have. Go for it!